Sunday, July 10, 2022

Power Rangers Dino Fury Mosa Razor & Ptera Freeze Zord review

While the Beast Racer Zord was already an improvement over the CB-01 Ace mecha in terms of articulation and capturing the sleekness better, the T-Rex Champion Zord was a much stronger toy in terms of being show-accurate yet having even better articulation thanks to the ball-jointed neck and ankles in addition to the wrist swivels and even the superior leg articulation that doesn't feel T-jointed. It's even great that the articulation remains intact when going to the multiple combinations, which is somewhat of the opposite for the Beast-X Ultrazord as it still had the articulation yet felt impractical due to the added weight and small stability issues. The Warrior Formation may be the best bet at having all of the Zords at once without the Auxiliaries, but perhaps the Mosa Razor and Ptera Freeze offerings may help in the meantime. Let's see how they both turned out!


Here are the keys in hand. In the middle is the basic key that came with the figure, and it's quite simplified compared to the Zord key, both in sculpt work and paint apps. It also lacks the ball-jointed neck that helps it articulate like Megazords these days can. The Ptera Freeze key is made of clear plastic yet doesn't seem too brittle (yet). Of note, the keys for the Zords play sounds are already associated with the Red Key and the Demo Key, with MR having the fire sounds and PF having the dino sounds.


The backs of the keys removable for the Zord versions, and while the sticker is nicer to look at given how it's painted up and resembles the Ranger, the sculpted details are always preferrable, and I really like how the backs have the removable piece where the Gold Ranger and the egg of the Ptera Freeze Zord control the mecha.


And here we have the Mosa Razor Zord. This guy generally looks the part as far as capturing the way it appears in the show as well as replicating the appearance of the toy Japan has. Honestly, this is the weakest of the three Deluxe-sized Zords in terms of its dinosaur mode. It's the robot with the fists removed, its arms pointing forward, the dino head replacing the robot head, and a tail attached to the feet. Im some ways, it's almost like you can make a mid transformation for the robot and make it into a mermaid. Hell, I find it amusing that the beast arms are small and seem of little significance in comparison to the robot arms. And as for the fists, they're apparently supposed to represent  the Ammonite Zords, but they feel more of a case of making a specific part used for either a mode or some kind of weapon. You know, typical Megazord gimmickry. Also the head not only opens up but it also has this latch that raises up and I'm not too sure what the purpose is.


Next up, here we have the Ptera Freeze Zord in its egg mode. It's adorable, and the bean akd feet are peeking out which is a nice little charm. I like that it looks like a balance between badass and adorable, which is more in-line with something like the Lightzord from Samurai and not something from Zyuohger. As for transforming it, you have to cracp the shell open via the wings, then the lid on top, swivel the lower body around, relocate the arms from the shins to the wings, and rotate the tail. The Pteradactyl mode is very unique amongst the previous versions for that additional mode alone, but what I like is that while it continues a similar role of being an independent Megazord from the others a la Ptera Charge, it's functionally different and is an icy blue instead off gold and black. This guy's wings are also curved so you can at least display him with a bit of a dynamic look from the wings alone without them being stiff like on other flying beasts. Oh and the beak opens, too.


And here we have all 7 of the Zords in-hand. It appears that much like the Beast-X King Zord, we won't be getting all of the Zords from Dino Fury in this line, by which I refer to the Auxiliaries that we normally see replace the core 4 Zords around the T-Rex Champion Zord. I'm mixed on that if I'm being honest; on one hand I don't really care for the other Zords for how insignificant and lackluster they are compared to their Thunder and Charge predecessors from their own Dino seasons, yet I can see why people would wish we got them for completion sake. At least we got these two extra dudes and not an MMPR Megazord replacing it. Imagine a Thunder Megazord in 2022! Oh wait, I forgot we usually milk MMPR Season 1 unless it's Lightning Collection.


You can make one of the modes with the T-Rex Champion and Ptera Freeze Zords, known as the Ptera Rex Zord. It's essentially the T-Rex with some of the Ptera body replacing it, which makes for a crossbreed result of a Zord. It's a little reminiscent of the Carnozord from Dino Thunder's Blizzard Force Megazord if I'm being honest.


Back to the Mosa Razor Zord, its transformation is pretty simple, much more than a lot of single-unit Zords. Flip the back fins up, attach the fists and swivel the arms down, swivel the dino head and open the jaw to have the robot head revealed. That's pretty much it. As for the robot mode, well it looks good in terms of design, and the color scheme fits well for a sea captain a la Cap'n Crunch. I don't think the design is at fault apart from the transformation considering that it's already there albeit tweaked somewhat. He does look flat from the sides, though. My favorite part has to be the collar being the Mosasaurus head's wide open state. 


The articulation is consistent with the T-Rex Champion Zord, with ball jointed neck and ankles, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, except no bicep swivels but the elbows bend and the forearms swivel, the hips move front and back, in and out, though my copy's left hip doesn't ratchet properly given how the plastic ratchet method these toys use are inferior compared to other Hasbro toys. Oh and the thighs swivel and the knees bend. His sword can be held in either hand though it needs a bit of force to go in. As for a comparison to his Japanese counterpart, uh, the chest has fewer paint apps, more articulation, and the proportions are slightly different thanks to the articulation. Oh and the loincloth armor is supposed to be split in half because of the articulation on the hips.


And now the Ptera Freeze Zord, which is a much more striking design in comparison. Apart from the icy color scheme, the robot design feels very regal, the wings look dynamic on the back, and the Ptera head on the chest looks like it can stab someone if they're not careful. He can have the right arm with his shield/gauntlet, which adds to the knight vibe present on his look. I think the white plastic has a pearlescent look to it which hopefully won't lead to yellowing compared to other white Hasbro toys.


The articulation is also good and is the same as what we have with the other two, but he has wrist swivels and can sort of rotate the waist like the T-Rex. There are no bicep swivels, though, and I think the lower legs swiveling is not part of the articulation but to make room on the transformation scheme. The right one's looser than it should be. Next to the Bandai version, the proportions and head sculpt are different, and I think the clear plastic is darker on the Hasbro version.


And here we have all 3 of the main Dino Fury Zords in one shot. I think of the T-Rex Champion as the best release in the line, Mosa Razor as the weakest of the trio, and the Ptera Freeze as in-between them. It's certainly making me wish we still got the Beast-X King Zord, Hasbro...


And finally, the Primal Ultrazord. If you thought the Beast-X Ultrazord is the first of its kind ot use the smallest number of components, you haven't seen anything with this. It's a pretty unusual approach if you ask me, considering that it feels more like a half-way point than a full-on Ultrazord. I find the approach ambitious considering how it usually involves a humanoid design and smaller Zords than three Megazords of equal height. It's not my favorite combination but I like the way it attempts to balance out the part count of each Zord. We have the legs, legs, and weapons of the T-Rex, the arms, legs, and dino head of the Mosa Razor, and the upper body, shield, and mask of the Ptera Freeze Zord.


Head sculpt is the same but with a new mask added on. Originally, the shield held the mask yet now it's a separate piece to go with the new articulation. And said articulation is the same as before, though you may need to plan with the leg articulation given how things work for the feet.


And what about the other pieces? You can make your own secondary Megazord and probably use the other Zords if you want. Nothing's stopping you!And you can tell the height difference between the two with the foot extensions. So overall, the Mosa Razor and Ptera Freeze Zords are both good additions to the line, yet I feel the former has more issues than the latter that I wish Hasbro would fix before the final release. If Hasbro wants to release the other Zords the same way we did with Black/Blue and Green/Pink, that'd be appreciative. But we're not sure even though they showed more attention to the Dino Fury Zords in the Fan First Fridays than they did with the Beast Morphers stuff.


Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Mosa Razor), ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Ptera Freeze)

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